MEMOIR OF PALLAS. 59 
thereby subjects himself to much trouble and vexa- 
tion. We cannot convey a better idea of those 
constant agitations, than by reciting an event nar- 
rated in detail by Pallas, and which gives an idea 
of those famous migrations which formerly consti- 
tuted a remarkable epoch in the history of Europe. 
An entire people, who, after the conquest of Kien- 
Long, lately emperor of China, had fled for refuge 
to the Russian territory, and who had been esta- 
blished since the year 1758, in the rural district of 
Astrakan, having become dissatisfied, and, moreover, 
influenced by the intrigues of their chief Lama, 
resolved twelve years afterwards to return to the 
country which had been subjugated by China. Their 
preparations continued for many months without 
their secret being divulged; and, finally, on an ap- 
pointed day in the commencement of 1771, the whole 
nation, men, women, and children, to the amount of 
more than 60,000 families, marched off in three 
divisions, with their tents, their flocks, their bag- 
gage, and all they could pick up in their route either 
of men or wealth. Thus did they travel 1500 miles 
without being arrested by the troops which puisaed 
them, nor by opposing rivers, nor by the interme- 
diate hostile tribes, nor by the mortality which 
prevailed among them and their cattle. We believe 
that no other event of the sort, to the same extent, 
had previously occurred, since the flight of the 
Israelites from the land of Egypt. 
Pallas does not treat only of the origin and physi- 
cal characters of these people, nor of their manners 
